Red maple

Red maple, also called swamp maple, or scarlet maple, (Acer rubrum), large, irregularly narrow tree of the soapberry family (Sapindaceae), cultivated for its shade and spectacular autumn colour. It is one of the most common trees in its native eastern North America.

Red maple (Acer rubrum).

Willow

The red maple grows to a height of 27 m (90 feet) or more on a straight trunk; the crown bears upright or spreading branches that become reddish brown with age. Young bark is smooth and gray, gradually becoming ridged, scaly, and dark. Reddish colour characterizes the flowers, which precede the leaves, the leaf stalks, the fall foliage, and the winter buds. The leaf is three- to five-lobed, paler beneath. The small paired, winged fruits are yellow to red. Squirrels consume the seeds; deer and rabbits eat the young shoots and leaves. The wood of the red maple is used in furniture, flooring, and veneer. Syrup, in small amounts, can be prepared from its sap. Because it tolerates compact, wet soils and city pollution, the red maple is often planted in urban environments. Several cultivated varieties are useful in the landscape for their special growth habit (pyramidal, globe-shaped, and columnar) and for especially brilliant fall colour.

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...late wood of one ring and the early wood of the next ring is clear. Diffuse-porous wood occurs when the size of the vessels (pores) in a growth ring are fairly uniform and evenly distributed (e.g., red maple, Acer rubrum; Sapindaceae). Ring-porous wood occurs when the pores of the early wood are distinctly larger than those of the late wood (e.g., black walnut, Juglans nigra;...

Large maples, usually in excess of 30 metres high, that are much planted for shade include the sugar (A. saccharum), silver (A. saccharinum), and red (A. rubrum) maples. The Oregon, or bigleaf, maple (A. macrophyllum) provides commercially valuable wood darker than that of other maples; it shows bright-orange fall foliage. The Sycamore maple (A....